Flights of Foundry Schedule 2024

This weekend I'll be doing programming for Flights of Foundry! It's a lovely annual convention that takes place entirely online and welcomes people from the around the world. There is programming 24/7 so that no matter where you are, you'll log on and find something to do. I hope to see you there!

 

2023 Writing Contest Winners Showcase: Interview and Q&A

9/27/2024, 2:00-3:00 PM EDT

John Wiswell (m), Suzan Palumbo (m), Nkereuwem Albert, Fatima Abdullahi, Jessica Andrewartha

Come meet the 2023 Dream Foundry Emerging Writers Contest Winners! The contest judges will do a Q&A style interview with the winners and lead a discussion.

 

Chill-n-Chat with John Wiswell

9/28/2024, 2:00-3:00 PM EDT

Come meet and chat with author John Wiswell! John is a disabled writer who lives where New York keeps all its trees. He won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story for ""Open House on Haunted Hill,"" and the Locus Award for Best Novelette for ""That Story Isn't The Story."" He has also been a finalist for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Awards. His debut novel, SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN, released from DAW Books in April 2024, and was named one of the best books of the year by Polygon, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. He would like to pet a shark. Preferably, he would like to pet many sharks.

 

Making Monsters

9/29/2024, 2:00-3:00 PM EDT

Marie Brennan (m), John Wiswell, A.Z. Louise, Samantha Mills

What makes a monster a monster? Can a truly monstrous monster still be relatable? How do we build monsters while still respecting the differences their monstrosities represent? And of course, what are some of our favorite monster in media new and old.

John Wiswell's Tour Schedule for 2024

Now that my book is out in the world, I have to go follow it!

On this post you'll find every official event and convention I'll be attending this year. I'll add events to this page as contracts are signed. Especially if we're at the same con, please say hi! I love meeting folks and signing books.

You'll notice some events are tagged as (VIRTUAL). These are ones where I'll only be attending online, or that are entirely online events. I'm trying to do at least a few of these to reach readers who live outside of my travel's reach.

• April 2: Book launch at The Strand in New York City, NY
  
• April 14: Reading and Q&A The Golden Notebook in Woodstock, NY
• April 16: Reading with Anjali Patel, Elijah Kinch Spector, and Blake Sanz at Brooklyn Books & Booze at Barrow’s Intense in Brooklyn, NY
• May 8: Reading with Anya Johanna DeNiro at Fantastic Fiction at the KGB Bar in New York City, NY
• May 16: Q&A hosted by Oblong Books (VIRTUAL)
• May 25-26: Teaching class How To Make Stakes Work in Fiction at Futurescapes (VIRTUAL)
• June 6-9: Attending the Nebula Conference (VIRTUAL)
• June 13: Book Signing and conversation with J.R. Dawson at The Moon Palace in Minneapolis, Minnesota
  
• June 14-16: Attending 4th Street Fantasy Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota
• June 25: Virtual Book Club appearance at Bodacious Books in Pensacola, Florida
  
• July 11-14: Attending the Readercon in Quincy, Massachusetts
• August 8-12: Attending Glasgow Worldcon (VIRTUAL)
  
• September 28-29: Attending Flights of Foundry (VIRTUAL)
  

 See you out there!

Someone You Can Build A Nest In launches on April 2nd!

My debut novel is extremely nigh! It releases April 2nd in the U.S., and April 11th in the U.K.. In this post, I'll walk you through everything you need to know.

Let's start here: what is Someone You Can Build A Nest In about?

Shesheshen is a shapeshifting monster who lurks in the ruins of an isthmus, fending off monster hunters and other vile humans. After she is poisoned and driven off a cliff, she's rescued by Homily, a bookish and gentle lady who mistakes Shesheshen for a fellow human. Homily nurses her back to health, and Shesheshen is shocked to find herself growing attached. Homily seems to be an outcast like herself. The more they fall in love, the harder it is for Shesheshen to hide her true identity. She has to confess. But just as she's about to come clean, Homily reveals why she's visiting in the isthmus. Homily is hunting a shapeshifting monster. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?

You can read the first chapter for free at Reactor.

The pre-release experience has been overwhelming. I keep getting tagged by readers who got advanced copies and have fallen in love with Shesheshen and Homily. Recently The Library Journal gave Someone You Can Build A Best In a starred review and named it the Debut of the Month for April. Ingram named it one of the three Best of the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for 2024. Someone You Can Build A Nest In has also graced numerous Most Anticipated Bookslists, including Literary Hub, Apple Books, Polygon, FanFiAdddict, Reactor (A.K.A. Tor.com), and Winter is Coming.

The responses from authors has been amazing, too.

"Someone You Can Build A Nest In is sweetly furious, darkly funny, and gruesomely wholesome. It's a love story for the unloved, a happily-ever-after with a higher-than-average body count. I just adored it."
—Alix E. Harrow, New York Times-bestselling author of Starling House and The Ten Thousand Doors of January

“Surprisingly sweet, unsurprisingly horrific, and entirely humane—only John Wiswell could have written this monster and her book, and I'm so very glad he did.”’
—Arkady Martine, Hugo Award-winning author of A Memory Called Empire

“I love the wonder and the darkly enchanting danger of this story. It makes me think of fairy tales, but John Wiswell understands what so many have forgotten: that true fairy tales are gruesome and magical at the same time, and he nails it here.”
—C.L. Polk, bestselling author of Midnight Bargain and Even Though I Knew the End

“Someone You Can Build a Nest In is the future of fantasy: a fairy tale with boundaries, an
imaginative world created in the shape of collective values rather than the boring old id, a portal to a place you've really never seen before instead of just a princess in a different outfit. This novel is going to change the entire genre.”
—Meg Elison, Hugo and Locus award-winning author of The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

Pre-orders are available at all major book websites.

All the Short Stories John Wiswell Published in 2023

2023 is ticking down to a close. As I’m wrapping up the final touches on my debut novel, I’m also looking back on all the short fiction I got to share with you folks this year. I got late word from an editor that the final story of mine that *was* going to be published this year will now be coming out next year. Having things wrapped up makes a boy nostalgic.

I'm proud of all my weirdo fictional children. Each story I published this year did something totally different. 

I'm curious, though. Do you, dear reader, have a favorite?

Here are the contenders:

"Bad Doors" at Uncanny Magazine

Everywhere Kosmo goes, a mysterious burgundy door appears, as though stalking him and demanding he open it. He tries to avoid the terrors he’s sure lies behind it. Everyone in his life tells him not to worry about it, but none of them are taking this new outbreak seriously—something the news is calling “COVID-19.”

"So You Want to Kiss Your Nemesis" at Lightspeed Magazine

The Intimate Blade is a unique blacksmith shop. They sell the weapons you’ll need to propose to that special nemesis in your life—to win the duel, and maybe tip their chin up with the tip so they have to look you in the eyes. They’ve just gotten a new customer in dire need of help.

"Irresponsibly Human" at Small Wonders

For their senior thesis project, an alien student plans to conquer the planet Earth. They view this planet as backwards and ridiculous—come on, social media is still legal there—but they run into more problems than they expected. Especially with how delicious their new humanoid form is.

"The Three O'clock Dragon" at Tordotcom

Liza is the only dragon in Prosperity City, a long scaly creature who rules the rails. It’s a good life, if a lonely one. It’d be better if the military stopped hunting her. Soon Liza gets an idea: if she runs for mayor, she can call off the military goons. She quickly learns the current mayor has more enemies than just a dragon.

So which is your favorite? Has something from one of these stories stuck with you the longest? I’m always curious how this sort of thing breaks down.

New story day: The Three O'clock Dragon at Tordotcom

It’s a new story day! My short story “The Three O’clockDragon” is live and free to read on Tordotcom.

“The Three O’clock Dragon” follows Liza, who is your average, mild-mannered half-mile-long dragon, who lives on the city’s rail system. These metro tunnels make great lairs. The mayor spends no expense trying to kill her off, and she’s frankly exasperated with all the paramilitary assaults. So she’s got a plan: she’s running for mayor, to kick the current jerk out.

She can’t do it alone. As she starts to open up to other city dwellers, she might even make some friends. Certainly there’s no shortage of commuters who’d like a ride on the dragon.

“The Three O’clock Dragon” is my second story at Tordotcom, following last year’s smash hit “D.I.Y.” It’s been a pleasure to work once again with the great editor Jonathan Strahan, who helped this story find its final form.

You read this story for free by clicking right here.

I’m excited to see what y’all think of Liza. Would you vote for a dragon?

New Story: So You Want to Kiss Your Nemesis

 I’m proud to share my first-ever story in Lightspeed Magazine: “So You Want to Kiss Your Nemesis.” 

You can read it for free right here. 

“So You Want to Kiss Your Nemesis” is a flash fiction story about an unusual kind of romantic supply store. Do you absolute detest someone who is frustratingly hot? Well, the Intimate Blade sells the weapons you need to propose to that special arch-enemy in your life. It’s an engagement ring store, but they sell swords.

It’s such a pleasure to bring this zany little gem into the world. I hope it brightens your day.

Lightspeed Magazine is an award-winning magazine that I’ve wanted to publish in for years. They’ve published works by luminaries like Ken Liu, An Owomoyela, Peter Watts, Yoon Ha Lee, Jack McDevitt, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, and Catherynne M. Valente, among numerous others. Breaking into this magazine was a bucket list goal for me, and learning they wanted this particular story made my day.

New Fiction: "Bad Doors" at Uncanny Magazine

It's New Story Day! "Bad Doors" is live at Uncanny Magazine.

Kosmo is a simple English teacher with no interest in evil magic doors. However one day they take an interest in him. A burgundy door with a shiny black knob appears in his hallway, where no door has ever been.

Kosmo does what he thinks anybody would do: he grabs his dog, runs out of his house, and never goes back in. He thinks it’s over, but the door isn’t finished with him, as they pursue him everywhere he goes. They beckon old Kosmo. He struggles with why they’re appearing, but refuses to ever look inside one. Everyone in his life chides him to be adventurous and not be so afraid. However, this is 2020 and it’s the same time when everyone around him isn’t taking this “COVID thing” seriously. What’s a man to do to dodge a cursed door and a pandemic?

“Bad Doors” is the story of a man who refuses to be in a Horror story. What happens to you when you refuse to answer the call of a nightmare?

“Bad Doors” is free to read right here on Uncanny Magazine’s website.

This one is for everybody who thinks they'd just walk out of a Horror story. For people who'd say, "Nah."